Good morning all. Woke up at 5:30 this morning, so plenty of time to get things done before an early doctor's appointment.

Ubee Congratulations on being a grandma!!!!! Having the next generation with us is yet another thing I just love about this phase of life. Enjoy your little one and I love the thought about not wanting fat between you.Fi Your BERP project sounds like it's getting to the dreading stage. I so totally understand as I really let my house and yard kind of slide after my sister passed. Now I'm having to spend way too much time just trying to get things back to an acceptable level. And things keep breaking -- nothing major just inconveniences but they add to the stress. Please be kind to yourself as much as you can be. I know you feel you're under a deadline with the kittens coming, but it sounds as though you've made so much progress already. Terra Saw the storms go through your area on the weather report -- definitely not something to be out walking in. You must have needed the sleep and sometimes that's as helpful as getting in the exercise.Sam As always, it's a joy reading your posts. Not only are you proof of the physical benefits of losing, but also the emotional ones. I need to keep that in mind!Time4Me End of school year! My parents were teachers and the end of the school year was always bittersweet for them -- they loved having the year done, but knew there were kids that they would miss. Are you headed home for the summer?Autumn-Owl I'm late in doing so, but welcome to the group.

It's been a challenging week food wise, and after reading Fi's post, it's beginning to dawn on me how much of my emotional support comes from ingesting carb laden foods. It seems like it's been months and months of doing nothing but working on the house and the yard. I feel as though I'm not doing anything fun any more, but I'm accepting that part of that is because just moving around is so hard and painful that I don't want to go places that require a lot of walking.......and most places require walking. So, while I need to finish getting things whipped into shape around here and get all of the maintenance projects done, I need to refocus on WHY I want to lose this weight.

Off to the doctor, then the gym, then yard work, and then down to Sears to buy my nephew a tool chest he wants for Father's Day/Birthday combined. Not a lot planned for the weekend, but it's supposed to be nice weather here, so hopefully I'll be able to make some real progress on the yard. Have a great one.

Good Afternoon!
Thanks Melissa. I LOVE how you let each student know they were special. Good for you!Terra I was watching the national weather and I was wondering how you were doing. I'm so glad you check in daily.Sam you sound like you are in such a good place. I'm glad things are working out for you! My husband always grills out extra so we can chew on it for days. It really helps with the what is for dinner question.Betsy I miss you! Please think about checking in for a half hour a day. We understand if you don't give a response to each of us. We all want eachother to succeed. Whine over. As far as letting things slide...Doesn't it seem like when we let things slide our weight is the first to go, quickly followed by our house, garden, lawn...
Busy day today. Our daughter is dealing with a stomach bug.

BetsyI've missed you!! I always look forward to your posts on Friday It really is a physical and emotional journey losing weight. I just keep telling myself why I want to do this, and that I'll do anything to succeed. With everyone's help here and on the home front, it has been a lot easier. This is the first time in my life that I feel like I have made a lifestyle change, and hope to stick to this the rest of my life. I hope everything went well at the doctor's today. Glad to hear you had plans for the gym too!! Hope you enjoy your weekend and I miss you so so much!

Ubee I am probably at the best place I have ever been in my life. I have struggled with depression, the loss of my father, abuse and a slew of other things in my short time on this earth. Its a tremendous feeling to actually feel happy...Like really happy, not something I put a face on for so people wouldn't ask me a bunch of questions. It's the feelings like this that make me keep going...I don't want to be that girl anymore. I want to be happy, healthy, and inspire others...So I'm going to push everything as hard as I can and never give up. Thank you so much for being such a great motivator for me. I don't think I would be able to do it without you guys. I hope your daughter gets over the stomach bug soon. Those are the worst!! And I hope you enjoy your weekend too!!

Today was kind of crazy at work...But it helped the time go by fast. DH and had planned to go to Sam's after work but we figured there is no point until tomorrow since we have to go up that way to get to the farmer's market. We're going to try and go to the state park tomorrow before I have to give my grandma back her park pass. We're going to try and get our own here in the next few weeks if everything goes well with the upcoming wedding and I make a few extra bucks in tips that I hadn't planned.

I did some HIIT cardio tonight...I'm sweating like a pig and I'm pooped but I got it in...My calendar is helping me keep track with what to do on what day and I really like having it up where I work out in my living room. Tomorrow will be arms day and I'm going to work out like a machine! I really need to get rid of these sugar glider arms!!! My arms are getting smaller slowly but surely and I'm building muscle, so I'm just going to keep doing what I do!!!

I'm going to relax the rest of the night with DH and have an enjoyable weekend with him since next weekend is going to be crazy with that wedding. I'll try to check in again this weekend since I won't have anything major going on. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend! <3

Good Morning!Terra glad you are OK and that you got your walks in! What are your plans for this weekend?Sam you have such a great attitude! It is great that you keep pushing. Do you mind if I ask which state park you are going to so I can google it? We no longer really travel so I like to see what others are doing.
My daughters bug has passed and she is now an eating machine! I will not join her!
Have a great day!

Surprise!!!! I've decided that I miss you guys a lot, so while I won't promise every day, I definitely want to keep up more than once a week. Plus we all know what a chatty Kathy (make that a chatty Betsy) I am!

Terra Sometimes those weekends where nothing special is planned are the best ones. Enjoy your walks and hope you find something fun and interesting to do.Ubee I've missed you guys as well. While there is literally mounds of weed pulling and yard work to do yet, I'm beginning to feel as though I'm over the top of that bell curve representing all of the projects that need to be done during non-rain season (that would be the 4 month window we're in now!). Glad your daughter is over the stomach bug and that you're resisting joining her in being an eating machine. Anything special planned for the weekend? How's the new grandbaby?Sam You've done it again, girl......made me think! In the past, I've lost weight much more easily when I'm happy. Must be that the mood chemicals in the brain are already there as opposed to needing carbs to release them. And when I look around at my life, I decided that there's really no reason that I would feel anything other than happy. It's not that I'm depressed, just more of a feeling of being "satisfied" with life as opposed to being "happy" about it. So, I'm going to work on the happy part. You are definitely a wise woman for being so young. Thanks again for the inspiration!

It's the beginning of fruit season here. The next four-five months are not only heavenly from a weather perspective, but the amount of fresh fruit and veggies that are available is just spectacular. Strawberry season has started. It is so wonderful to have strawberries that were picked that morning and are ripe all the way through. Delicious. They need nothing -- no shortbread, no whipped cream, no sweetener. Just berries that are so juicy that you have a sticky chin from the juice. Plus my container garden is going great guns on the deck and so much easier to tend than down on the first terrace. Yum -- when the veggies and fruit are fresh and local, it's so much easier to eat healthy.

Nothing special planned for this weekend other than to tackle the weeding. This is going to take a while, but I'm determined to get it done. One of the big jobs on my list is done -- getting the RV cleaned inside and out. My wonderful next door neighbor came over and washed the RV roof for me (took him 2 hours). It was filthy up there as I'm not getting up there so it hadn't been cleaned since I bought her 4 years ago. Now, it's time to go camping!

OK, better get it in gear or else it will be mid afternoon and nothing will have gotten done. Have a great weekend!

Good Morning!
Was going to have a nice quiet day but life happens. Company stopping by so will try to keep it short.Terra love seeing your walking updates!Betsy you've made my day!
Struggling with wanting to eat sweets. Glad you are here for me. Thanks!

Howdy folks! Not a whole lot to say today. It's my day off from the BERP and also from socializing (yay!), since my niece Margaret and her son Gavin are coming over on Wednesday instead of Sunday.

Bob and I are Formula One fans, so we watched an exciting auto race today. Other than that, the only thing of note is that I worked on the first page of my new art journal. What's an art journal? It's like a regular journal in that you write about your life, thoughts, feelings, etc., but also you do art on the pages. You explore new techniques, try to push the envelope of where you're at creatively, that sort of thing. Most of the pages have both writing and art on them, all woven together, but some pages just have art. My great-niece Grace and I are both starting art journals: she came over yesterday for another session of helping me sort clippings, and we showed each other how we'd decorated the front & back covers of our journals. She'd already filled several pages with visual & verbal info about what she's been up to. She's off to a great start! I have to keep reminding myself that she's only 13, and trying to remember what I was like at 13. She's really a whiz at sorting my clippings, hardly ever needing to ask me "Where does this one go?"

I'm not so bummed out about the BERP anymore. I'm starting to see the baseboards in multiple rooms. Everywhere I look, I'm amazed at the spaces that have opened up. The end is not in sight yet, but I don't feel so overwhelmed. It's easy for me to think of what area to attack next: that's a good feeling. And Bob is excited, too. He's beginning to believe that we really will get our house back.

I'm too tired to do personals, so I'll just say that I'm thinking about all of you, including those who haven't checked in recently. And I'm so glad that Betsy is going to be joining us more frequently again. I really missed you, gal! =smile= You say that we are so different, but I think we have a lot in common. We're both highly verbal, both into controlling our environment, both capable of motivating ourselves to undertake big projects—just to name a few things.

Anyway... Take care, everyone!

__________________Current mini-goal: Get BACK down to 260
Pounds to go: 7
Mini-goal 1: 30 days binge-free > done 12/21/13 & binge-free now
Mini-goal 2: Get down to 280 > done 5/22/14
Mini-goal 3: Get down to 260 > done 1/1/16

Good Morning!Fi what a great feeling to see your baseboards! Thanks for explaining about the art journal. What a great idea.
I am up two pounds this week. I got in a funk this weekend and made poor choices. The sad part is I didn't even enjoy some of them. I need to work on my health and taste buds determining what foods I eat, not my mood.

Good morning all. It's a hazy day which will eventually burn off. Definitely a place where if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes because it will change! Thank heavens for web cams around here because it might be clear as a bell in the mountains while it's foggy at lower elevations. OK, more than you probably wanted on the NW weather report!

Ubee I think we might have been poor choicing at the same time. I'm not up, but not down either. My choices were ok, but the never ending portion battle has not yet been won. We will conquer this......in our warrior outfits (just hope they have queen size and allow for varicose veins).Fi Isn't it amazing how exciting baseboards can be?! Congratulations because I know that means you have accomplished a lot with your BERP. And I like the thought of us having a lot in common because you just fascinate me -- in a really wonderful kind of awe struck way.Terra So do you give walking lessons accompanied by discipline lessons. I'm hoping that walking becomes a lot easier for me in about another 20 pounds so that when I move it's in a forward direction instead of looking like a ship listing in the ocean.

I've already had a small victory this morning--actually a couple of them. First, I went back to last year and reviewed all of the menus on MFP when I was steadily losing weight. My calorie intake was in the 800-1200/day range but I kept the carbs down to no more than 75g a day. So, that helped with reinforcing what I know I need to strive for on a much more consistent basis (plus gave me some menu ideas!). Second, there were three emails about people wanting me to schedule time with them at the co-op to train them on how to do things they're taking over for me. It frustrates me to no end that I'm still getting tied up with the Co-op. My first thought was that I would go ahead and have some breakfast and it would be peanut butter toast. But I took a step back and said that I need to just put some limits on this, that the PB toast wasn't going to do anything other than make me irritated with myself for handling stress by eating, and that it's time to just cut the ties totally. So, while I have substituted having a selfish moment for eating maybe I have to accept that a lot of these eating problems are because I always put myself last. Anyone else wondering if maybe we need to put ourselves first for a change? OK, off to the gym. Have a great day!

Betsy ~ Yeah the discipline to not eat too much after dinner, I've been eating alot after dinner for the last couple of nights I need to stop doing that or Im gonna get to 302 again instead of getting past 287

Ubee DH and I have been going to Myrtle Beach State Park and Huntington Beach State Park when we go hiking. I gave my grandma back her pass to get in since she's back from visiting my cousin in Texas, but DH and I are going to get our own I'm glad to hear your daughter is feeling better!!

Betsy So glad to hear from you!! I'm still trying to post daily when I can but I'm glad that I'll see more than one post a week from you when you can ...Being happy really does change everything when you are wanting to succeed at anything...It's a realization I've had recently. I've heard my whole life I am a little wise beyond my years and very mature from my age...I guess it's because I had to grow up quick and learn fast because before I knew it I was leaving home to be on my own at just a little over 18 years old. The strawberries are coming in good here too and there's an awesome farmer DH and I get ours from

Fi Your art journal sounds so cool!! I remember when I used to journal a lot...writing was always my thing (can't you tell =smile=). I used to write stories when I was younger and eventually became the editor in chief of my high school newspaper...I was going to go to college for journalism and become a political analyst but I ended up quitting college after I lost my scholarship...I was in a bad car accident and ended up missing school a lot to get well and my grades slipped...In retrospect I'm kind of glad I didn't finish because I am so happy where I am at in life and where life led me afterwards. I'm glad the BERP is slowly but surely starting to pay off...You'll get there, don't give up

Sorry I didn't check in with everyone yesterday like I usually make sure I do on Sundays since it's my weekly weigh in. For some reason DH and I were soooo tired!! I hadn't felt that tired in a long while...We got up and DH made a real yummy brunch with an egg bowl and some baked cinnamon apples and then we layed down to watch tv and fell asleep until the evening!!! I ate a small salad for lunch with some left over chicken fajita fixins and called it a night! I guess we've both been going hard lately that our bodies were like, hey buddy slow down!!! It was some much needed rest and I'm glad I took the time to rest a little extra this past week...

I weighed in yesterday and I lost 4.4 lbs this week!! My measurements were good too! This coming weekend is my 5th month weigh in...If I can lose the 2.4 lbs I need to have a 60 lb loss I would feel phenomenal!

I've got a busy week ahead as this Saturday is the wedding I'm doing the makeup for. I'll be sure to get some pictures so I can share with you guys my work ...I'll post my regular daily check ins during the week but you may not hear from me on Saturday since I'll more than likely be gone the whole day...

I'm off to relax the rest of the night, I did HIIT ab training today...I felt the burn and with the oven going while I was working out it was SO hot and I feel like I sweated so much! Hope everyone has a great evening!